System and method for sending, delivery and receiving of faxes, including delivery of faxes with adaptive protocol selection

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of a fax system with adaptive protocol selection, and methods for such a system, are disclosed herein. Embodiments of a fax system may be adapted to selectively configure the protocol (both the type of protocol or aspects of a particular protocol) used in association with the transmission or reception of a specific fax. The configuration of the protocol utilized can be based on one or more attributes associated with a sender or a destination. The fax can then be transmitted or received according to those configuration parameters.

RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application claims a benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 fromU.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/453,363, filed Feb. 1, 2017,by inventors Preobrazhensky et al., entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FORSENDING, DELIVERY AND RECEIVING OF FAXES, INCLUDING DELIVERY OF FAXESOVER A COMPUTER BASED NETWORK ACCORDING TO SECURITY OR OTHER PROTOCOLS,”the entire contents of which are hereby fully incorporated by referenceherein for all purposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates generally to digital content delivery in anetwork environment. More particularly, this disclosure relates to thetransmission, delivery or reception of data through computer basednetworks or telephone networks. Even more specifically, this disclosurerelates to the transmission, delivery or reception of faxes throughcomputer based networks or telephone networks, including adaptiveprotocol use during sending or receiving of a fax in association withindividual destinations.

BACKGROUND

Entities such as consumers, organizations, enterprises, governments,health care entities, etc. need to exchange data for a variety ofreasons, as may be easily imagined. In the modern world, this dataexchange is often times accomplished electronically using a variety ofmethodologies. These methodologies include, for example, local storage(e.g., a thumb driver holding the data which can be physically deliveredto a recipient), file transfer using particular protocols (e.g., filetransfer protocol (FTP)), sending an e-mail with an attachment, fax,etc.

While all these methods serve the same end, each of these methodologieshas differing capabilities with respect to various characteristics suchas ease of use, speed, security (e.g., the ability to resistinterception or tampering), traceability, cost, etc. For example, usinglocal storage may not feasible if two entities are widely dispersedgeographically.

Accordingly, traditional fax machines have been successfully relied uponto transmit electronic documents over the public switched telephonenetwork (PSTN) for some time. A facsimile (fax) comprises a document ina digital image format. The document is associated with a destinationspecified with respect to the PSTN. Thus, typically for at least aportion of the transmission, the document is transmitted over the PSTN.Faxing provides a secure, traceable and non-repudiable mechanism forcontent delivery and can be particularly useful in certain environments.

In a typical office environment equipped with a private packet-switcheddata network and access to a public packet-switched data network such asthe Internet, a server is connected to the PSTN. The server is alsoconnected to the private packet-switched data network and, typically,the Internet. From the perspective of the server, the PSTN is both asource of incoming faxes as well as a destination of outgoing faxes.“Online” fax services which make use of e-mail to communicate between auser with an e-mail account and a traditional fax machine may also beavailable.

Thus, in many cases, the network over which a document is transmittedmay not be homogeneous. Specifically, the network over which a documentis transmitted to the specified destination on the PSTN may be comprisedof many different types of sub-networks (including computer networks ortelephone networks (e.g., including cellular networks)). The variablenature of the networks over which a fax may be transmitted may introducelatency or other issues into the transmission of a fax. While some faxsystems may utilize other methods to transmit the fax in case ofproblematic transmissions, there is no coherent way to selectivelyutilize certain protocols or aspects of those protocols in thetransmission of faxes, or to easily manage the use of those protocols oraspects.

Generally, then it would be desirable to be able to selectively utilizecertain protocols or aspects of a protocol in association withindividual fax transmissions, both when transmitting or receiving faxes.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of a fax system with adaptive protocol selection, andmethods for such a system, are disclosed herein. Embodiments of a faxsystem may be adapted to selectively configure the protocol (both thetype of protocol or aspects of a particular protocol) used inassociation with the transmission or reception of a specific fax. Theconfiguration of the protocol utilized can be based on one or moreattributes associated with a sender or a destination. In particular, thedestination on the PSTN to which the fax is being transmitted may beused to determine one or more communication parameters associated withthat destination. The fax can then be transmitted or received accordingto those configuration parameters.

In particular, according to certain embodiments, a faxing system mayinclude a data store storing one or more destination entries, eachdestination entry including a destination on a publicly switchedtelephone network (PSTN) and a set of communication parameters, eachcommunication parameter specifying a value for the communicationparameter. The fax system can be configured for determining an initialset of communication parameters with corresponding values; receiving adocument for transmission to a specified destination on the PSTN;determining that a destination entry corresponding to the specifieddestination exists in the data store; determining the set ofcommunication parameters associated with the destination entrycorresponding to the specified destination; determining a set ofparameters to use for transmitting the document by replacing the valueof one or more of the initial set of communication parameters with thevalue for a corresponding communication parameter from the set ofcommunication parameters associated with the destination entry; andtransmitting the document over the PSTN according to the set ofparameters.

In another embodiment, the faxing system includes a data store storingone or more recipient entries, each recipient entry including adestination and a set of communication parameters, each communicationparameter specifying a value for the communication parameter. The faxsystem is configured for receiving an incoming call for a fax;determining a destination associated with the fax; determining aninitial set of communication parameters with corresponding values forthe fax; determining that a recipient entry corresponding to thedestination associated with the fax exists in the data store;determining the set of communication parameters associated with therecipient entry corresponding to the destination associated with thefax; determining a set of parameters to use for the fax by replacing thevalue of one or more of the initial set of communication parameters withthe value for a corresponding communication parameter from the set ofcommunication parameters associated with the recipient entry; andnegotiating the fax with the sender using the set of parametersdetermined for the fax.

In some embodiments, the corresponding communication parameter is a faxprotocol or an aspect of a fax protocol and the value is to enable ordisable.

In certain embodiments, the aspect of the fax protocol is ErrorCorrection Mode (ECM), compression or a data rate.

Accordingly, embodiments as presented herein may result in a number ofadvantages and improvements to the functionality of existing faxing andcomputer technology. Specifically, in this manner, persistent adaptiveprotocol selection may be used in conjunction with certain destinations,groups, users, or other entities to ensure that appropriate protocols orfeatures of a particular protocol are utilized in conjunction with thetransmission or reception of faxes to or from those entities. Bypersisting the communication parameters to utilize such that they can beutilized with substantially all faxes to or from those entities (e.g.,until the communication parameters are modified), greater throughput,speed and efficiency of a fax server can be achieved, as desiredcommunication protocols (or aspects of protocols) may be utilized, evenwith respect to the first fax transmission to, or from, a destination.

Moreover, by persisting these communication parameters in a distributedor centralized manner in instances where multiple fax servers aredeployed in a faxing system, the advantages of individually tailoringfaxing to specific destinations can be achieved without having toindividually configure each of the fax servers.

These, and other, aspects of the invention will be better appreciatedand understood when considered in conjunction with the followingdescription and the accompanying drawings. The following description,while indicating various embodiments of the invention and numerousspecific details thereof, is given by way of illustration and not oflimitation. Many substitutions, modifications, additions orrearrangements may be made within the scope of the invention, and theinvention includes all such substitutions, modifications, additions orrearrangements.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings accompanying and forming part of this specification areincluded to depict certain aspects of the invention. It should be notedthat the features illustrated in the drawings are not necessarily drawnto scale. A more complete understanding of the disclosure and theadvantages thereof may be acquired by referring to the followingdescription, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings inwhich like reference numbers indicate like features and wherein:

FIG. 1 depicts an architecture for a faxing system.

FIG. 2 depicts one embodiment of an architecture for a faxing system.

FIG. 3 depicts one embodiment of a method for sending a fax usingadaptive protocol selection.

FIG. 4 depicts one embodiment of a method for receiving a fax usingadaptive protocol selection.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The disclosure and various features and advantageous details thereof areexplained more fully with reference to the exemplary, and thereforenon-limiting, embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings anddetailed in the following description. It should be understood, however,that the detailed description and the specific examples, whileindicating the preferred embodiments, are given by way of illustrationonly and not by way of limitation. Descriptions of known programmingtechniques, computer software, hardware, operating platforms andprotocols may be omitted so as not to unnecessarily obscure thedisclosure in detail. Various substitutions, modifications, additionsand/or rearrangements within the spirit and/or scope of the underlyinginventive concept will become apparent to those skilled in the art fromthis disclosure.

As described above, entities need to exchange data for a variety ofreasons. This data exchange is often times accomplished electronicallyusing a variety of methodologies. While all these methods serve the sameend, each of these methodologies has differing capabilities with respectto various characteristics such as ease of use, speed, security (e.g.,the ability to resist interception or tampering), traceability, cost,etc. For example, using local storage may not feasible if two entitiesare widely dispersed geographically.

Accordingly, traditional fax machines have been successfully relied uponto transmit electronic documents over the PSTN for some time. Faxing,while still heavily utilized by individuals and the workflows of variousenterprises may also present some difficulties. A facsimile (fax)comprises a document in a digital image format. The document isassociated with a destination specified with respect to the PSTN. Thus,typically for at least a portion of the transmission, the document istransmitted over the PSTN. Faxing provides a secure, traceable andnon-repudiable mechanism for content delivery and can be particularlyuseful in certain environments.

In a typical office environment equipped with a private packet-switcheddata network and access to a public packet-switched data network such asthe Internet, a server is connected to the PSTN by one or more dedicatedlines, such as fiber optic or copper T1/E1 lines. The server is alsoconnected to the private packet-switched data network and, typically,the Internet. From the perspective of the server, the PSTN is both asource of incoming faxes as well as a destination of outgoing faxes.Further, the server may recognize computers and other computing devicesconnected to the private and public packet-switched data networks asboth a source of incoming faxes as well as a destination of outgoingfaxes.

“Online” fax services are available which make use of e-mail tocommunicate between a user with an e-mail account and a traditional faxmachine. Because e-mail provides a means to send electronic documents ofvarious formats between users by way of an “attachment” of theelectronic documents, online fax services receive e-mail attachments,encode the attachments to a form suitable for use by a traditional faxmachine, and transmit the encoded attachments to a traditional faxmachine over the PSTN.

FIG. 1 illustrates a simplified diagram of one implementation of faxsystem 100. System 100 includes a computer 110, a packet-switchedcomputer network 120, a server 130, a PSTN 150, and a traditional faxmachine 160. The computer 110 is coupled to the packet-switched computernetwork 120 to facilitate data communication between the computer 110and one or more servers 130. The server 130 is configured to hostwebsites, host e-mail services or host facsimile services.

In operation of the system 100, a user of the computer 110 attaches anelectronic document to an e-mail and sends the e-mail, using the e-mailservices hosted by the server 130, where the document is intended for arecipient, such as the traditional fax machine 160 or other endpointassociated with a destination on the PSTN. To that end, the e-mail andelectronic document attached to the e-mail are transmitted from thecomputer 110 to the server 130, where the e-mail and electronic documentare received by the e-mail service of the server 130. The e-mail servicemay separate the electronic document from the e-mail and provide theelectronic document to the facsimile services of the server 130, alongwith the specific destination (e.g., a PSTN telephone number) fordelivery of the electronic document to a traditional fax machine overthe PSTN 150. The facsimile services of the server 130 then transmitsthe electronic document to the traditional fax machine 160 over the PSTN150, based on the specific destination. Finally, the fax machine 160produces a printed copy of the electronic document received from theserver over the PSTN 150. The fax over e-mail system 100 may alsoreceive faxes from the traditional fax machine 160 and transmits thefaxes to the computer 110 over the packet-switched computer network 120as an attachment to an e-mail.

In many cases, however, the network over which the document istransmitted may not be homogeneous. Specifically, the network over whicha document is transmitted to the specified destination on the PSTN maybe comprised of many different types of sub-networks. These sub-networksmay be of many different types. In fact, the network over which thedocument may be transmitted may include portions comprised of both atraditional PSTN (e.g., a Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS)) andportions including a computer network (e.g., where the document may betransmitted over the computer network using Voice of Internet Protocol(VOIP) network or other data over a packet switched network).

The variable nature of the networks over which a fax may be transmittedmay introduce latency or other issues into the transmission of a fax.These issues are particularly challenging, for example, whentransmitting according to the V.34 protocol. The V.34 protocol wasdesigned to transmit at 33.6 kbps on a solid POTS network. If however,one or more voice lines is replaced in the transmission network with oneor more computer networks using VOIP to transmit the fax, transmissionof faxes using the V.34 protocol may fail.

While most fax systems may fall back to more limited data rates or otherprotocols (e.g., V.33, V.17, V.27, V.29, etc.) to re-transmit a fax,this may introduce latency or management issues as the re-transmissionstatus must be maintained and tracked. Moreover, in many cases, thedesired data rate or protocol may be utilized if certain aspects orfunctionality of the protocol are not utilized. For example, in manycases it may be possible to transmit to such destinations if ECM isdisabled.

Generally, then it would be desirable to be able to selectively utilizecertain protocols or aspects of a protocol in association withindividual fax transmissions, both when transmitting or receiving faxes.

To that end, attention is now directed to embodiments of a fax system aspresented herein. Such a fax system may be adapted to selectivelyconfigure the protocol (e.g., both or wither of the type of protocol oraspects of a particular protocol) used in association with thetransmission or reception of a specific fax. The configuration of theprotocol utilized can be based on one or more attributes associated witha sender or a destination. In particular, the destination on the PSTN towhich the fax is being transmitted may be used to determine one or morecommunication parameters associated with that destination. The fax canthen be transmitted or received according to those configurationparameters.

According to certain embodiments then, for the transmission of a fax, afax board or other faxing hardware or software may be configuredaccording to the communication parameters and the document provided fortransmission to the destination according to those parameters. For thereception of a fax, when the fax session or call is being establishedwith the sender, only capabilities associated with the communicationparameters determined for the intended destination may be exchanged withthe sender (e.g., during handshaking or negotiation), ensuring that thesender may substantially only select from among these desired parameterswhen possible.

In this manner, persistent adaptive protocol selection may be used inconjunction with certain destinations, groups, users, or other entitiesto ensure that appropriate protocols or features of a particularprotocol are utilized in conjunction with the transmission or receptionof faxes to or from those entities. By persisting the communicationparameters for use, such that they can be utilized with substantiallyall faxes to or from those entities (e.g., until the communicationparameters are modified), greater throughput, speed and efficiency of afax server can be achieved, as desired communication protocols (oraspects of protocols) may be utilized, even with respect to the firstfax transmission to, or from, a destination.

Moreover, by persisting these communication parameters in a distributedor centralized manner in instances where multiple fax servers aredeployed in a faxing system, the advantages of individually tailoringfaxing to specific destinations can be achieved without having toindividually configure each of the fax servers.

Turning now to FIG. 2, one embodiment of a topology for a networkincluding an embodiment of a fax system is depicted. The fax systemincludes one or more fax servers 200 coupled to a fax service 204 over acomputer network 220 such as an intranet, a wide area network (WAN), alocal area network (LAN), the Internet, a wireless network, a wirednetwork, or some combination of these types of networks.

Fax service 204 offers a job interface 206 through which users of one ormore enterprise environments 296 (or software or hardware associatedwith the users) may submit faxing jobs to the fax service 204. Thesejobs may include a document (e.g., almost any electronic content) andone or more destinations (e.g., specified with respect to the PSTN 250,such as phone number). When a job is submitted to the fax service 204,job monitor 208 may track and process the job and return a response tothe job submitter or initiator through the job interface 206.

The job monitor 208 may schedule a workflow for the job, including anumber of tasks for the submitted job. For example, one or more of thetasks may include document processing tasks such as the conversion of adocument from a received format to a format suitable for faxing (e.g., aTIFF format). One or more of the tasks for the job may include theactual transmittal of the document to the one or more destinationsspecified in the received job.

Accordingly, for each of the specified destinations (e.g., telephonenumbers or other location where the document is to be sent) in thesubmitted job, the job monitor 208 may issue a fax sending request toone of the fax servers 200 through the interface 212 offered by the faxserver 200. This fax request may include at least the destination (e.g.,as specified in the job request), the document associated with the joband possibly one or more parameters associated with the transmission ofthe fax, including for example, the faxing protocol to use or aspects orcomponents of the protocol to use. These parameters may be defaultparameters, parameters specifically determined by the fax service 204 orparameters specified by the submitter or initiator of the job.

In one embodiment, a fax delivery controller 290 may be utilized inassociation with the job monitor 208 to control or orchestrate (usedinterchangeably herein) the transmission of a fax associated with thefax sending request. In particular, the fax delivery controller 290 maycreate a delivery item 292 associated with a fax sending request. Thedelivery item 292 may be a data structure such as an in-memory datastructure storing data associated with the fax sending request,including, for example, the destination, parameters (e.g., including thefaxing protocol) being used to send the fax, the received document,information regarding the success or failure of transmissions, thenumber of retry attempts made, or other data associated with the faxsending request or the transmission of an associated fax.

It should be noted here that while FIG. 2 depicts only the fax service204 and fax servers 200 as part of the faxing system, in otherembodiments one or more intermediary services or managers or otherservices or servers may be utilized (e.g., between the fax service 204and fax servers 200) to, for example, abstract certain interfaces orprovide a more distributed architecture.

When a fax server 200 receives a fax sending request from the faxservice 204 through the interface 212, the fax server 200 may thenutilize telephony interface 214 to determine an appropriate fax board216 to utilize for sending the requested fax over the PSTN 250 based on,for example, the destination or parameters associated with the receivedfax sending request. These fax boards 216 may include, for example, faxboards 216 from Brooktrout, Aculab, Eicon, Intel or other manufactures.While referred to as fax boards, it will be understood that these faxboards 216 may be virtual or emulated fax boards, other types ofsoftware, remotely deployed interfaces or services, or the like.

Each of these different types of fax boards 216 may have a differenttype of interface (e.g., Application Programming Interface (API)) forinteraction with that particular board 216. Telephony interface 214 maythus include one or more board interface modules (BIM) 218, where eachBIM 218 is configured to communicate with a corresponding fax board 216according to the interface utilized by that fax board 216.

Accordingly, telephony interface 214 may configure a selected fax board216 according to the parameters of the received fax request using acorresponding BIM 218 and send the document as a fax over the PSTN 250according to the parameters of the received fax request using theselected fax board 216. Depending on the results of the transmission ofthe fax, a response may be returned to the fax delivery controller 290through the interface 212.

In one embodiment, individual adaptive protocol selection may also beimplemented using fax delivery controller 290. Here, when a fax istransmitted through telephony interface 214, if there is a problemtransmitting the fax (e.g., the fax negotiation or transmission fails)the fax board 216 may report this error to the telephony interface 214through the API. The telephony interface 214 can then notify theinterface 212, which sends a failure response to the fax deliverycontroller 290 of the fax service 204 (e.g., using an identifierassociated with the fax).

The fax delivery controller 290 can access the delivery item 292associated with the fax to determine which faxing protocol (and aspectsof that faxing protocol) was utilized to attempt to transmit the fax.The fax delivery controller 290 can then select another fax protocol (oraspect of the faxing protocol) for use in transmitting the fax, updatethe associated delivery item 292 accordingly and re-try the faxtransmission using the selected protocol by sending a subsequent requestto send the fax to a fax server 200 (e.g., through the job monitor 208),where this fax request may include at least the destination (e.g., asspecified in the job request), the updated parameters (e.g., theparameters updated with the selected protocol or aspect of protocol).

The fax delivery controller 290 may therefore be configured with a setof rules 294 including, for example, a progression sequence of two ormore fax protocols or aspects of faxing protocols, where the progressionmay be in order of descending data rate. For example, a rule 294 orprogression may specify that if one or more attempts have been made totransmit the fax at a particular fax protocol (e.g., v.34) a protocol ata lower rate may be selected (e.g., v.17) and a re-try of the faxtransmission at the lower rate protocol attempted. As another example, arule 294 may specify that if one or more attempts have been made withECM turned on, an attempt may be made with ECM turned off. These rules294 may be assigned or associated with a priority, hierarchy, order ofevaluation or number of failure attempts such that the rules may bedetermined and evaluated based on, for example, a number of failedattempts, last protocol (or aspect of a protocol used) or otherparameters associated with a delivery attempt. Other rules are possibleand are fully contemplated herein).

Thus, if one or more delivery attempts at a particular fax protocol (orusing an aspect of a protocol) have failed, the next fax protocol oranother aspect of faxing protocol using the progression of rules 294 maybe selected, the associated delivery item 292 updated accordingly, andthe fax transmission re-tried using the selected protocol. In thismanner, individual adaptive protocol selection may be implemented byselecting an appropriate protocol (or aspects of a protocol) for thedelivery of a particular fax to a particular destination, regardless ofthe parameters used to attempt the original fax transmission to thatdestination.

The reception of faxes using the fax system 200 may work substantiallysimilarly. Specifically, an incoming call may be received at a fax board216 of a fax server 200 over the PSTN 250. An event may be raised by thefax board 216 to the telephony interface 214 which uses the appropriateBIM 218 to configure the fax board 216 to receive the incoming fax fromthe PSTN 250. This configuration may include the parameters to exchangewith the sender of the fax when faxing capabilities are exchanged duringcapabilities negotiation or handshaking. The incoming fax can then bereceived at the fax server 200 and stored.

When the reception of the fax over the PSTN 250 is complete, the faxserver 200 may raise a received fax event with the fax service 204through the event interface 210 of the fax service 204 and transmit thereceived document and destination information to the fax server 204 overthe computer network 220. The fax service 204 can then distribute thereceived fax to the appropriate destination within the enterprise 290based on the destination associated with the received fax.

As discussed above, the variable nature or composition of the PSTN 250may introduce latency or other issues into the transmission of faxesfrom fax servers 200. The latency or other issues may be specific to thetransmission of faxes to certain destinations. In other words,transmissions of faxes to certain destinations may be accomplishedwithout issues (e.g., at a high rate of speed such those using the V.34protocol or using ECM) while for other destinations transmission offaxes according to certain parameters (e.g., at a high rate of speedsuch those using the V.34 protocol or using ECM) would cause thetransmission of the fax to fail.

It would be desirable to tailor the parameters used for a fax based onthe destination and in particular to be able to selectively utilizecertain protocols or aspects of a protocol in association withindividual fax transmissions to different destinations based on thedestination, both when transmitting or receiving faxes. In the past suchcapabilities have been lacking in faxing systems.

To provide such capabilities in embodiments of faxing system 200, faxservice 204 may include, or communicate with, data store 230 includingdestination entry records 232 and recipient entry records 234.Destination entry records 232 may be used to individually tailor faxesbeing sent to a destination associated with a destination entry record232 (e.g., a fax sent to the destination) while recipient entry records234 may be used to individually tailor the transmission of faxesintended for a destination associated with a recipient entry record 234.

In one embodiment, the data store 232 may be a relational database orthe like, and each entry 232, 234 may have a communication parameterfield that may be a variable size text field, such that it can containone or more key value pairs comprising the communication parameters 236.Each key specifies a parameter and the value specifies the correspondingvalue for that parameter to use with the destination of the entry. Theseparameters may include, without limitation, parameters related tomodulation protocols to use (e.g., V.34, V.33, V.27, etc.), encodingtypes, ECM (e.g., to use or not use), max data rate to use, no answertimeout, negotiation timeout or fax protocol.

In particular, each of the destination entry records 232 and recipiententry records 234 may be associated with a particular destination on thePSTN 250 (e.g., a telephone number) and include one or morecommunication parameters 236 (e.g., referred to as comm_parms orcomm_params). An example of the contents of a destination entry record232 or recipient entry record 234 is as follows (note here that withrespect to this example, there is a single communication parameters 236key value pair (maxrate: 4800) under the labeled % comm_parms of therecord):

-   -   addr type: fax    -   to: 16178304835    -   entity type: user    -   entity num: 20377    -   date: Thu Feb 12 12:22:00 EST 2015        -   Header:    -   % comm_parms    -   maxrate : 4800

An example of data that may be contained in such entry records, is anaddress. An address (e.g., a value associated with a key such as“Address” or “To”) may be a normalized phone number: digits only,consisting of the country code, city (area) code, and phone number. Forexample: 16094240705 or 4454367893. An address type (e.g., a valueassociated with a key such as “addr_type”) may include a type of theaddress for an entity associated with the entry record (e.g., fax,voice, e-mail, etc.).

As another example of such data, an entity type (e.g., a valueassociated with a key such as “entity type”) may be, for example, a typeof entity associated with the entry record, such as a user, customer,domain or all. An entity number (e.g., a value associated with a keysuch as “entity num”) may be an identifier associated with that entryrecord or entity. The entity type and entity number may define the jobsto which the entry record will apply. For example, the entry record maybe utilized for a job (e.g., determined to be a destination entryrecords 232 or recipient entry records 234 associated with adestination) if the address type and destination or recipientdestination match. Or if, for example, the entry record's entity type is“user” and the entity number matches an identifier (e.g., useridentifier) of the job, the record's entity type is “customer” and theentity number matches the job's customer number, or the entry record'sentity type is “domain” and the job originated from, or is destined for,that domain.

The communication parameters 236 of a destination entry records 232 orrecipient entry records 234 may specify a parameter that may be utilizedwith a fax transmission (or reception) and a value for that parameter tobe used for the destination of that entry 232, 234. Non-limitingexamples of communication parameters are given in the Appendix hereto.

In one embodiment, to facilitate the setting of communication parameters236 for an entry 232, 234 the fax service 204 may include administrativeinterface 242. This interface may be a browser based interface, acommand line interface, or other type of interface which may be accessedby a user (e.g., affiliated with an enterprise operating enterpriseenvironment 296). Using the interface 242 a user may create an entry232, 234 for a particular destination (e.g., telephone number) andspecify one or more communication parameters and associated values forthose communication parameters. The user may also specify whether theentry will be a destination entry 232 or a recipient entry 234.

Alternatively, in some embodiments, fax service 204 may gather andanalyze statistics associated with a destination to automatically createor revise the communication parameters 236 for an entry 232, 234. Forexample, if fax servers 200 report to the fax service 204 that faxing tocertain destinations has failed using a certain fax protocol settingover a threshold number of times the fax service 204 may set acommunication parameter in the destination entry 232 associated withthat destination to indicate that faxing according to that protocolsetting should be disabled.

In operation of the faxing system 200, the entries 232, 234 in the datastore 230 may be utilized to adaptively select protocols, or aspectsthereof, to individually tailor a fax to a particular destination. Asdiscussed, when a job is submitted to the fax service 204 job monitor208 may track and process the job and return a response to the jobsubmitter or initiator through the job interface 206, where one or moreof the tasks for the job may include the actual transmittal of thedocument to the one or more destinations specified in the received job.

Accordingly, the job monitor 208 may iterate through each of thedestinations specified in the received job request and for each of thespecified destinations in the submitted job the job monitor 208 mayissue a fax sending request to one of the fax servers 200 through theinterface 212 offered by the fax server 200. To create the fax sendingrequest the job monitor 208 may determine a set of initial parametersfor the request, where these parameters may be default parameters,parameters specifically determined by the fax service 204 or parametersspecified by the submitter or initiator of the job. Additionally, thejob monitor 208 may determine if a destination entry 232 associated withthe specified destination exists in the data store 230.

If a destination entry 232 for the specified destination exists, theentry 232 may be obtained, and the job monitor 208 can determine if theentry 232 has any specified communication parameters 236. If there areany specified communication parameters 236 in the entry 232 for thespecified destination, the set of parameters for the fax request may begenerated by including the values for the communication parametersspecified in the entry 232 with the initial set of parameters for therequest, or by using the values for specified parameters in the entry232 to override or replace a corresponding value for that parameter inthe set of initial parameters determined for the fax request.

In some embodiments, job monitor 208 may have logic for reconciling orresolving incompatible communication parameters (e.g., where the entry232 for that destination specifies a particular value for acommunication parameter but a different parameter in the initial set ofparameters is incompatible with the value for the parameter specified inthe entry 232). For example, ECM is a communication parameter that maybe turned on or off. However, when either certain data compression(e.g., Modified Modified Read (MMR) (T.6)) or certain modulationstandards (e.g., V.34) are used, ECM must be on and enforced. Thus, inthis case if an initial parameter or a communication parameter in anentry specifies these types of data compression or modulation standards,a rule of such logic may specify that ECM is to be utilized (e.g.,regardless of whether a value for ECM in an entry 232 specified that ECMshould not be used).

Similarly, when certain data rate is selected, but the chosen orspecified modulation protocol set does not support it, such protocol maybe utilized or added to a set of protocols to try. In other words, thelogic may include a rule prioritizing the selection of data rate overthe protocol specified, and specify the selection of a protocol for usewith the specified data rate. For example, the V.xx modulations andtheir supported data 3rates (in bits per second (bps))may be: V.29—9600, 7200; V.27—4800, 2400; V.17—14400, 12000, 9600, 7200; V.33—14400,12000; V.34—33600, 31200, 28800, 26400, 24000, 21600, 19200, 16800,14400, 12000, 9600, 7200, 4800, 2400. As an example, then, if only V.29and V.17 are specified by the parameters (e.g., initial or by an entry)and the data rate requested is 4800 the logic may select V.27 as thefirst protocol to utilize (e.g., as V.27 is a protocol that supports a4800 bps data rate.

The fax request for the specified destination can then be generated toinclude the specified destination, the document associated with the joband the determined parameters for the request, including for example,the faxing protocol to use or aspects or components of the protocol touse. The fax request is then be sent by the job monitor 208 to a faxserver 200.

When a fax server 200 receives a fax sending request through theinterface 212, telephony interface 214 may determine an appropriate faxboard 216 to utilize for sending the requested fax over the PSTN 250based on, for example, the destination or parameters associated with thereceived fax sending request. Telephony interface 214 configures aselected fax board 216 according to the parameters of the received faxrequest using a corresponding BIM 218, and sends the document as a faxover the PSTN 250 according to the parameters of the received faxrequest (if possible) using the selected fax board 216. Depending on theresults of the transmission of the fax, a response may be returned tothe fax service 204 through the interface 212.

Recipient entries 234 may also be used to individually tailor thetransmission of incoming faxes. As these faxes may originate fromoutside the faxing system, and be received at fax server 200, it may bedesirable to avoid unnecessary latency, communications or processingrequired for communicating with, or utilizing, the fax service 204 anymore than needed to make determinations for communication parameters fortransmission of such a fax.

Accordingly, each fax server 200 may include an inbound adaptiveprotocol module 260. When an incoming call is received at a fax board216 of a fax server 200 over the PSTN 250, an event may be raised totelephony interface 214 which may, in turn, raise an event for theincoming call to the inbound adaptive protocol module 260. The event mayinclude an identification of the specified destination (e.g., for theincoming fax). The inbound adaptive protocol module 260 receives inboundfax notification events from telephony interface 214 and determines aset of communication parameters to utilize for the inbound fax. Inparticular, the inbound adaptive protocol module 260 may communicatewith the data store 232 (e.g., using a remote procedure call or remotedatabase connectivity) to determine if there is a recipient entry 234for the specified destination, and obtain the communication parametersand their associated values for the recipient entry 234 if an entryexists in the data store 230 for the specified destination.

If any communications parameters for the specified destination exist ina recipient entry 234 for the destination they may be returned to therequesting inbound adaptive protocol module 260. The inbound adaptiveprotocol module 260 may then return these communication parameters andtheir values to the telephony interface 214.

The telephony interface 214 uses the appropriate BIM 218 to configurethe fax board 216 to receive the incoming fax from the PSTN 250according to these values for those communication parameters. The valuesfor these communication parameters may be used in lieu of other valuesfor those communication parameters or the determined communicationparameters and their values may be added to other communicationparameters to be utilized in the reception of the incoming fax. Inparticular, the telephony interface 214 may configure the fax board 216to utilize the values for these communication parameters when exchangingor negotiating faxing capabilities (e.g., during handshaking) with thesender of the fax. By using these communication parameters during thenegotiating process the sender of the fax may be informed that thereceiving fax board 216 has only these capabilities available(irrespective of the actual capabilities of the fax board 216 or faxserver 200) and may transmit the fax accordingly (e.g., based on thevalues determined for the communication parameters from the recipiententry 234). In this manner, the transmission of faxes may be tailored tospecified communication parameters, even when the faxing system 200 isreceiving such a fax.

The incoming fax is then received at the fax server 200 through the faxboard 216 and stored. When the reception of the fax over the PSTN 250 iscomplete, the fax server 200 may raise a received fax event with the faxservice 204 through the event interface 210 of the fax service 204 andtransmit the received document and destination information to the faxserver 204 over the computer network 220. The fax service 204 can thendistribute the received fax to the specified destination (e.g., withinthe enterprise 290).

It will be noted that to further reduce latency, increase speed orreduce processing overhead it may be desirable to replicate data store230 (or entries 232, 234 of data store or only destination entries 232or recipient entries 234 of data store 230) in one more additional datastores physically or logically closer to the one or more fax servers200. Accordingly, in some embodiments each fax server 200 may have adata store which stores recipient entries 234. These recipient entries234 may be replicated or copied from data store 230 at some intervalsuch as hourly, daily, or according to another set of rules. Othermethods of synchronization may be possible and are contemplated here.

FIGS. 3 and 4 depict, respectively, embodiments of methods forindividually tailoring the transmission of a fax when sending orreceiving a fax. Referring first to FIG. 3, when a fax system is sendinga fax, each of the destinations specified for the fax may be iteratedthrough. For each of the specified destinations a set of initialparameters for the fax may be determined (STEP 310) where theseparameters may be default parameters, parameters specifically determinedby a faxing entity or specified by the submitter or initiator of thefax. Additionally, it can be determined if a destination entryassociated with the specified destination exists (STEP 320).

If no entry exists (N Branch of STEP 320) the fax may be transmittedaccording to the determined set of initial parameters (STEP 330). If,however, a destination entry for the specified destination exists, itcan be determined if the entry includes any specified communicationparameters (STEP 340).

If there are no specified communication parameters (N branch of STEP340) the fax may be transmitted according to the determined set ofinitial parameters (STEP 330). If there are specified communicationparameters in the entry (Y branch of STEP 340), the set of parametersfor the fax request may be determined by including the values for thespecified communication parameters in the entry with the initial set ofparameters, or by using the values for specified parameters in the entryto override or replace a corresponding value for that parameter in theset of initial parameters (STEP 350). The fax can then be transmittedover the PSTN according to the parameters determined (STEP 360).

If the fax transmission is successful (N branch of STEP 370) a successresponse may be reported (STEP 372). If, however, there is a failuretransmitting the fax (Y branch of STEP 370) another protocol or aspectof a protocol may selected to attempt a re-try of the fax (STEP 380) andthe fax re-tried with these new parameters (e.g., the newly selectedprotocol or aspect). The selection of a new protocol or aspect may bedetermined based on a set of rules that may define a progression ofprotocol or aspect selection. The protocol or aspect selection andre-try may continue until, for example, each protocol in a progressionsequence has been attempted, a number of re-try attempts have occurredor more other criteria have been met.

Moving to FIG. 4, when an incoming call is received at a fax system, theincoming destination can be determined (STEP 410). A set of initialcommunication parameters to use for the incoming fax may be determined(STEP 420). These initial communication parameters may be, for example,the default or configured capabilities of the fax machine, server,board, etc. where the incoming call was received. It can then bedetermined if there is a recipient entry for the specified destination(STEP 425). If no entry exists the initial values for the communicationparameters may be used in the fax negotiations with the sender for theincoming fax (STEP 430).

If, however, a recipient entry for the specified destination exists, itcan be determined if the entry includes any specified communicationparameters (STEP 440). If there are no specified communicationparameters the initial values for the communication parameters may beused in the fax negotiations with the sender for the incoming fax (STEP430) If there are specified communication parameters in the entry, theset of parameters to be used in the fax negotiations with the sender forthe incoming fax may be generated by including the values for thespecified communication parameters in the entry with the initial set ofparameters, or by using the values for specified parameters in the entryto override or replace a corresponding value for that parameter in theset of initial parameters (STEP 450). The generated set of parametersmay then be used in the fax negotiations with the sender for theincoming fax (STEP 460). The incoming fax can then be received (STEP470).

The invention and the various features and advantageous details thereofare explained more fully with reference to the nonlimiting embodimentsthat are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in thefollowing description. Descriptions of well-known starting materials,processing techniques, components and equipment are omitted so as not tounnecessarily obscure the invention in detail. It should be understood,however, that the detailed description and the specific examples, whileindicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way ofillustration only and not by way of limitation. Various substitutions,modifications, additions and/or rearrangements within the spirit and/orscope of the underlying inventive concept will become apparent to thoseskilled in the art from this disclosure. Embodiments discussed hereincan be implemented in suitable computer-executable instructions that mayreside on a computer readable medium (e.g., a hard disk (HD)), hardwarecircuitry or the like, or any combination.

As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,”“including,” “has,” “having” or any other variation thereof, areintended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process,article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is notnecessarily limited only those elements but may include other elementsnot expressly listed or inherent to such process, article, or apparatus.Further, unless expressly stated to the contrary, “or” refers to aninclusive or and not to an exclusive or. For example, a condition A or Bis satisfied by any one of the following: A is true (or present) and Bis false (or not present), A is false (or not present) and B is true (orpresent), and both A and B are true (or present).

Additionally, any examples or illustrations given herein are not to beregarded in any way as restrictions on, limits to, or expressdefinitions of, any term or terms with which they are utilized. Instead,these examples or illustrations are to be regarded as being describedwith respect to one particular embodiment and as illustrative only.Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that any term orterms with which these examples or illustrations are utilized willencompass other embodiments which may or may not be given therewith orelsewhere in the specification and all such embodiments are intended tobe included within the scope of that term or terms. Language designatingsuch nonlimiting examples and illustrations includes, but is not limitedto: “for example,” “for instance,” “e.g.,” “in one embodiment.”

Embodiments of the present invention can be implemented in a computercommunicatively coupled to a network (for example, the Internet, anintranet, an internet, a WAN, a LAN, a SAN, etc.), another computer, orin a standalone computer. As is known to those skilled in the art, thecomputer can include a central processing unit (“CPU”) or processor, atleast one read-only memory (“ROM”), at least one random access memory(“RAM”), at least one hard drive (“HD”), and one or more input/output(“'I/O”) device(s). The I/O devices can include a keyboard, monitor,printer, electronic pointing device (for example, mouse, trackball,stylus, etc.), or the like. In embodiments of the invention, thecomputer has access to at least one database over the network.

ROM, RAM, and HD are computer memories for storing computer-executableinstructions executable by the CPU or capable of being compiled orinterpreted to be executable by the CPU. Within this disclosure, theterm “computer readable medium” is not limited to ROM, RAM, and HD andcan include any type of data storage medium that can be read by aprocessor. For example, a computer-readable medium may refer to a datacartridge, a data backup magnetic tape, a floppy diskette, a flashmemory drive, an optical data storage drive, a CD-ROM, ROM, RAM, HD, orthe like. The processes described herein may be implemented in suitablecomputer-executable instructions that may reside on a computer readablemedium (for example, a disk, CD-ROM, a memory, etc.). Alternatively, thecomputer-executable instructions may be stored as software codecomponents on a DASD array, magnetic tape, floppy diskette, opticalstorage device, or other appropriate computer-readable medium or storagedevice.

In one exemplary embodiment of the invention, the computer-executableinstructions may be lines of C++, Java, JavaScript, HTML, or any otherprogramming or scripting code. Other software/hardware/networkarchitectures may be used. For example, the functions of the presentinvention may be implemented on one computer or shared among two or morecomputers. In one embodiment, the functions of the present invention maybe distributed in the network. Communications between computersimplementing embodiments of the invention can be accomplished using anyelectronic, optical, ratio frequency signals, or other suitable methodsand tools of communication in compliance with known network protocols.

Additionally, the functions of the disclosed embodiments may beimplemented on one computer or shared/distributed among two or morecomputers in or across a network. Communications between computersimplementing embodiments can be accomplished using any electronic,optical, radio frequency signals, or other suitable methods and tools ofcommunication in compliance with known network protocols. It will beunderstood for purposes of this disclosure that a module is one or morecomputer processes, computing devices or both, configured to perform oneor more functions. A module may present one or more interfaces which canbe utilized to access these functions. Such interfaces include APIs, webservices interfaces presented for a web services, remote procedurecalls, remote method invocation, etc.

Mode V: Voice, F: Fax, C: Common; I: Inbound, Example Legal values O:Outbound, (units) Feature Description B: Both Keyword [default, if any]Priority Call Control call recording. C, B callrec y|n 1 Recording RTPCapture RTP and SIP packets. C, O rtpcapt y|n 1 capture EncodingNegotiate the fax image F, B compr A combination of 1 d 2 d 1 typescompression (encoding) types. and t6 (space separated). ECM Control faxerror correction mode. F, B ecm y|n 1 Fax Trace Set fax trace logging tobe on, off, F, B faxlog y|n|err 1 log or on for errors. Max data Set themaximum data bit rate. F, B maxrate One of 0, 2400, 4800, 1 rate In oneembodiment, for certain fax 7200, 9600, 12000, boardss maxrate may onlybe 14400, 19200, 16800, utilized either with V34 or for 21600, 23000,24000, outbound calls. For inbound calls 26400, 28800, 31200 or using anon-V34 modulation, the 33600. negotiated data rate may be higher(Special value 0 means than maxrate and depend on the no upper limit.)highest data rate supported by the selected modulation protocol set. Mindata Set the minimum data bit rate. F, B minrate One of 2400, 4800, 1rate 7200, 9600, 12000, 14400, 19200, 16800, 21600, 23000, 24000, 26400,28800, 31200 or 33600. Modulation Negotiate the fax modulation F, Bmodems A combination of V17 1 types modes. V33 V29 V27 V34 (spaceseparated). Tiff Save Save actual tiff files being sent or F, B tiffsavey|n|err 1 mode received - always, never, or on error. Fax Opt Controlthe Fax Opt Out logic. If n, F, O faxoo y|n 1 Out disable the fax/voiceanswer detection logic and the fax opt out prompt when fax tones are notdetected. Call Specify the call recording type - C, O crectype 1 w|2 w 1record “1 w” (for single way file) or “2 w” type (for dual wav files,i.e. mixed tx + rx). Silence Set the minimum silence duration V, Osildur 0-100000 (milliseconds) 1 Duration to value milliseconds.Barge-in Control the barge-in functionality: V, O bargein y|n 2 theability to interrupt and resume voice playback upon detection of audiofrom the recipient. No If the recipient does not answer C, O noantout0-300 (seconds) 2 Answer then time out after number timeout seconds. FaxA fax call shall time out after this F, B faxtout 0-3600 (seconds) 2Inactivity number of minutes if no activity at [3600] timeout the faxAPI level. Fax Fax detection shall time out after F, O dettout 5-1000(seconds) 2 Detection this number of seconds. In one [35] timeoutembodiment, for outbound only. Fax Fax negotiation shall time out afterF, B negtout 60-3600 (seconds) 2 Negotiation this number of seconds.[3600] timeout App Fax Fax negotiation shall time out after F, Bnegctout 0-1000 (seconds) 2 Negotiation this number of seconds. timeoutFax Page Individual fax pages shall time out F, B pgtout 1-60 (minutes)2 timeout after this number of minutes (reset [60] by any fax controlsignal). Fax Total Individual fax pages shall time out F, I pgttout0-120 (minutes) 2 Page after this number of minutes. In timeout oneembodiment, for inbound only. Consecutive Set the maximum number of F, Icbadlines 0-10000 2 bad allowable consecutive bad fax scanlines scanlines to number. In one embodiment, for inbound only. Percentage Set themaximum percentage of F, I pbadlines 0 to 100 (%) 2 bad allowable badscan lines to scanlines number. In one embodiment, for inbound only.Force Set the force play delay to number V, O fpdelay 0-50000(milliseconds) 2 Play milliseconds. delay Destination Destination numberexactly as it is C, O dnum A string of decimal digits 2 Number to bedialed on the outbound call. Origination Origination number exactly asit is C, O onum A string of decimal digits 2 Number to be applied to theoutbound call. Fax T.30 fax subscriber identification F, B faxid AnASCII string (i.e. 2 Subscriber string. Applied to CSI for inbound“Company X, Ltd” or Id and TSI for outbound. “732-555-1234”) Max FaxLimit the number of fax pages to F, I maxpgs 1-950 2 Pages be received.Extension Delay value in milliseconds before C, O extdelay 0-100000 3dial delay dialing the extension. (milliseconds) Mininum DTMF (touchtone) input must last C, B dtmfdur 0-10000 (milliseconds) 3 DTMF atleast number milliseconds to be duration recognized. RFC 2833 Use DTMFas specified in RFC C, B rfc2833 y|n 3 DTMF 2833. Use Insert specialinfo element for C, O specie Space separated hex 3 special IE outgoingISDN call as specified by octet string (i.e. “1A 04 the hex bytes (spaceseparated). 2B . . . ”) Fax Set the allowable fax protocols - F, Bfaxproto T30|T38 3 protocol either T30 or T38. (T.30/T.38) Vendor Setwhich vendor card/API to use. F, B vendor aculab| 3 selectionbrooktrout|manufacturer name AGC Enable/disable automatic gain V, B agcy|n 3 (auto gain control. control) Playback Set the audio playbackvolume. V, B playvol −100 to 100 3 volume Barge-in Set the barge-in typeto any audio V, O bargeintype audio|speech 3 type (all or speech only.audio or speech only) Voice Set the voice delivery method V, O vdmP|s|f| 3 Delivery value. “p” for PAMD, pvm|pl|Pf Method “s” for SILENCE,“f” for FORCEPLAY, “pvm”— PAMD_VOICEMAIL_ONLY, “pl”—PAMD_LIVE_ONLY,“Pf”—PAMD_FORCE. Call A lower level parameter to specify C, O cptypeName or location of rule 3 Progress which call progress analysis set orfile specifying call type options to use. progress

What is claimed is:
 1. A faxing system, comprising: a data store storingone or more destination entries, each destination entry including adestination on a publicly switched telephone network (PSTN) and a set ofcommunication parameters, each communication parameter specifying avalue for the communication parameter; a processor configured by a setof computer readable instructions, the processor configured for:determining an initial set of communication parameters withcorresponding values; receiving a document for transmission to aspecified destination on the PSTN; determining that a destination entrycorresponding to the specified destination exists in the data store;determining the set of communication parameters associated with thedestination entry corresponding to the specified destination;determining a set of parameters to use for transmitting the document byreplacing the value of one or more of the initial set of communicationparameters with the value for a corresponding communication parameterfrom the set of communication parameters associated with the destinationentry; and transmitting the document over the PSTN according to the setof parameters.
 2. The faxing system of claim 1, wherein thecorresponding communication parameter is a fax protocol or an aspect ofa fax protocol and the value is to enable or disable.
 3. The faxingsystem of claim 2, wherein the aspect of the fax protocol is ErrorCorrection Mode (ECM).
 4. The faxing system of claim 2, wherein theaspect of the fax protocol is compression.
 5. The faxing system of claim2, wherein the aspect of the fax protocol is data rate.
 6. A faxingsystem, comprising: a data store storing one or more recipient entries,each recipient entry including a destination and a set of communicationparameters, each communication parameter specifying a value for thecommunication parameter; a processor configured by a set of computerreadable instructions, the processor configured for: receiving anincoming call for a fax; determining a destination associated with thefax; determining an initial set of communication parameters withcorresponding values for the fax; determining that a recipient entrycorresponding to the destination associated with the fax exists in thedata store; determining the set of communication parameters associatedwith the recipient entry corresponding to the destination associatedwith the fax; determining a set of parameters to use for the fax byreplacing the value of one or more of the initial set of communicationparameters with the value for a corresponding communication parameterfrom the set of communication parameters associated with the recipiententry; and negotiating the fax with the sender using the set ofparameters determined for the fax.
 7. The faxing system of claim 6,wherein the corresponding communication parameter is a fax protocol oran aspect of a fax protocol and the value is to enable or disable. 8.The faxing system of claim 7, wherein the aspect of the fax protocol isError Correction Mode (ECM).
 9. The faxing system of claim 7, whereinthe aspect of the fax protocol is compression.
 10. The faxing system ofclaim 7, wherein the aspect of the fax protocol is data rate.
 11. Amethod, comprising: providing a data store storing one or moredestination entries, each destination entry including a destination on apublicly switched telephone network (PSTN) and a set of communicationparameters, each communication parameter specifying a value for thecommunication parameter; determining an initial set of communicationparameters with corresponding values; receiving a document fortransmission to a specified destination on the PSTN; determining that adestination entry corresponding to the specified destination exists inthe data store; determining the set of communication parametersassociated with the destination entry corresponding to the specifieddestination; determining a set of parameters to use for transmitting thedocument by replacing the value of one or more of the initial set ofcommunication parameters with the value for a correspondingcommunication parameter from the set of communication parametersassociated with the destination entry; and transmitting the documentover the PSTN according to the set of parameters.
 12. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the corresponding communication parameter is a faxprotocol or an aspect of a fax protocol and the value is to enable ordisable.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the aspect of the faxprotocol is Error Correction Mode (ECM).
 14. The method of claim 12,wherein the aspect of the fax protocol is compression.
 15. The method ofclaim 12, wherein the aspect of the fax protocol is data rate.
 16. Amethod, comprising: providing a data store storing one or more recipiententries, each recipient entry including a destination and a set ofcommunication parameters, each communication parameter specifying avalue for the communication parameter; receiving an incoming call for afax; determining a destination associated with the fax; determining aninitial set of communication parameters with corresponding values forthe fax; determining that a recipient entry corresponding to thedestination associated with the fax exists in the data store;determining the set of communication parameters associated with therecipient entry corresponding to the destination associated with thefax; determining a set of parameters to use for the fax by replacing thevalue of one or more of the initial set of communication parameters withthe value for a corresponding communication parameter from the set ofcommunication parameters associated with the recipient entry; andnegotiating the fax with the sender using the set of parametersdetermined for the fax.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein thecorresponding communication parameter is a fax protocol or an aspect ofa fax protocol and the value is to enable or disable.
 18. The method ofclaim 17, wherein the aspect of the fax protocol is Error CorrectionMode (ECM).
 19. The method of claim 17, wherein the aspect of the faxprotocol is compression.
 20. The method of claim 17, wherein the aspectof the fax protocol is data rate.